Santander to acquire 318 branches from RBS

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Santander to acquire 318 branches from RBS

Spanish banking giant Banco Santander is to acquire 318 branches from Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS), for an estimated cost of £1.65bn (around €1.99bn), lower than the £2bn RBS had been hoping for.

The deal is expected to be concluded in 15-18 months, subject to the necessary regulatory green lights.

Santander will acquire 311 RBS branches in Wales and England, and 7 NatWest branches in Scotland, including 40 SME banking centres, a quartet of corporate banking centres and and three private
banking centres.

The move is a significant milestone in Santander’s strategic goal of enhancing its presence in the UK marketplace, and will see the firm’s SME market share increase from 3% to 8%.

Chairman Emilio Botín described the announcement as a giant step for the firm in the SME sector in the UK.

Earlier this month Santander announced it is to create 600 new jobs in the UK to help improve growth in its 1,300 branch network.